Deceived (7 page)

“What about Cheryl?” another girl said.

“Who's Cheryl?” Vicki said.

“In the corner with her back to us,” the dark-haired girl said. “We've held meetings to try and tell people the truth. Cheryl seems really interested, but she hasn't made up her mind yet.”

“She'd better hurry,” Vicki said.

Another believer talked with Cheryl about the Bible but seemed frustrated. Then Vicki approached, sat, and took Cheryl's hand. “My name's Vicki Byrne. Someone said you're pretty interested in what these girls have been saying.”

Cheryl nodded. She was small framed, had blonde hair, and wore a sweater. Vicki guessed she was about sixteen. The girl's eyes were puffy and red.

Cheryl wiped away a tear. “I want to believe what they say, but I don't think God could love me.”

Vicki stared at the girl, bit her lip, and began. “I never rush people into a decision like this, but we're in a big hurry. The Global Community wants you to take a mark of loyalty to Carpathia, and if you do that, you won't be able to accept God's truth.”

“I've been really bad.”

“I understand. I was no angel before I found out about God. But it doesn't matter how bad or good you are, because all it takes is one sin to separate us from God. That's why he sent his Son to die in our place and take the punishment for our sins.”

“You mean, Jesus?”

“Right. In the Bible it says that anyone who receives him has eternal life. But the people who reject him, reject God himself.”

“But that's not what the Global Community wants us to believe.”

Someone blew a whistle at the other end of the room and Vicki stood. She looked through the masses of women and girls and saw Colin with the deputy commander.

Vicki knelt by Cheryl. “I'm going to pray a prayer because I have to go. If you want, you can say it with me or have one of the other girls pray with you. This is how you receive God's gift.”

The whistle blew again, and the deputy commander yelled for everyone to sit on the floor.

“God in heaven, I know that I have sinned against you and I deserve to be punished,” Vicki whispered. “I want to turn from my sin right now and receive the gift you're offering me. I believe Jesus came to die for my sins so that I could be forgiven, and that he was raised again so that I might spend eternity with you. Right now I want to reach out to you and ask you to be the Lord of my life. Forgive me. Save me. In Jesus' name, amen.”

Vicki glanced at Cheryl's forehead, but there was no mark of the believer. “You still have questions?”

“How did you know?”

Vicki smiled. “It's written on your face.”

Vicki glanced toward the center of the room and saw Colin and the deputy commander moving through the crowd of women. “I have to go. Please pray that prayer. And no matter what you do, don't take the mark of Carpathia.”

Colin grabbed Vicki by the arm and pulled her to a standing position. “Have you found them?” he screamed.

Vicki nodded. “I don't know all their names, but I can show you which ones they are.”

“She's a traitor!” the tall blonde woman yelled.

The deputy commander turned and called for silence. “There will be none of that.” He looked at Vicki. “Point out the Judah-ites.”

Vicki looked at Colin and gave a harried glance toward Cheryl and the dark-haired girl, who were still talking in the corner.

“Let's come back here after she's seen the males,” Colin said.

Natalie Bishop was double-checking the progress at the Iowa reeducation facility to make sure the order she had sent had gone through. She had used Deputy Commander Henderson's computer while he was out earlier and had typed in Colin's fake name, Commander Blakely, as the ordering officer.

As the afternoon had worn on and she hadn't heard from Vicki or the others, she had become worried. What if she had led them into a trap? What if the deputy commander in Iowa hadn't gotten the release order for the Judah-ites?

Just settle down and stay calm, Natalie told herself.

When Henderson left and told his secretary he wouldn't be returning for the day, the woman gathered her things and walked out the door. Natalie waited, then returned to the office, got on the computer, and pulled up information about the Iowa facility.

She had just called up the release order when Deputy Commander Henderson walked into the office.

“What are you doing?” Henderson said.

Vicki wasn't allowed into the men's section of the prison. Instead, she stood at a window while men filed past. As Vicki pointed out the three believers, GC guards separated them from the other prisoners and led them to a holding room, where they were handcuffed and their names recorded.

One of the younger boys thought he was being led to the mark application site, and the guards had to restrain him. When a guard said he was being turned over to a commander, the boy stared at Colin.

Colin leaned forward and said, “Tell me the truth. Are you a Judah-ite?”

The boy nodded. “How did you know?”

Colin smiled. “Your friends have given you up. But if you will tell us what we want to know, you will live.”

Colin gave the order to lead the three males outside to the van. Vicki was taken back to the women's building, and the females were paraded past her like the men had been. When the girls she had known from the abandoned college walked past, she pointed and they were taken into another holding room.

Vicki couldn't help thinking that she was somehow controlling the destinies of these women. If she chose them, they would be safe from the Global Community. If she let them pass, they would be forced to take the mark of Carpathia. She only chose the believers, of course, but she still felt bad for the women who had rejected God's love.

As the line dwindled, Vicki scanned the crowd for the dark-haired girl she had seen when she first arrived. Finally, when the last few women passed, Vicki spotted her and pointed.

The last girl in line was Cheryl. She had pulled the hood of her sweater over her head. When she passed Vicki, she threw the hood off and Vicki gasped. On Cheryl's forehead was the mark of the true believer.

7

NATALIE
quickly clicked Deputy Commander Henderson's computer off and moved away from his desk.

“I said, what are you doing in here?”

“I'm sorry, sir … your computer is so much faster—”

“You have no right.” Henderson clicked the computer back on.

“Sir, I was just composing a message to … a friend of mine, and I didn't want anybody to see it.”

“A love interest?” Henderson said.

Natalie looked away.

Henderson studied the screen. “Let me ask you again, and this time don't lie—”

“I was helping a friend,” Natalie interrupted.

“But why were you using
my
computer? Unless …” Henderson pulled up the last document in the computer, and Natalie closed her eyes. If he found the entry about Commander Blakely, the kids were dead.

She fell to the floor and grabbed at her throat, pretending to choke. She glanced at the wall and found the computer's power cord. Before she could reach it, Henderson's foot came down hard on her arm, grinding it into the floor. Natalie cried out, but Henderson kept his eyes on the computer.

“I've had my suspicions about you.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a chair. “No one can see your computer from your desk. Why would you use mine?”

Natalie rubbed her arm and stared at the man. Before she could speak, he opened the order sent to the Iowa reeducation facility. The name
Commander Blakely
appeared on the screen.

Henderson turned wildly. “Did you send this order from my computer?”

Natalie put her head down and prayed that God would somehow intervene on her behalf.

Henderson pulled out his service revolver and pointed it at Natalie. With the other hand he picked up the phone and dialed. “Send two guards to my office at once.” He stared at his computer, then looked hard at Natalie. “If you sent this order, then you must have been behind the escape of that teenage boy. …”

Natalie sat still, trying to come up with a verse about feeling peaceful in a time of great stress. All she could think of was a passage from Isaiah Jim Dekker had included with his last e-mail:
“But Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strength each day and our salvation in times of trouble.”

Natalie had wondered how it would feel to be caught. There was a chance she could still talk her way out of this or come up with some kind of explanation, but the more Henderson questioned her, the more her hopes faded. She had helped the Shairtons, Maggie, and the new believer, Manny, escape from the Global Community's snare. She had also helped Vicki, Darrion, and other Young Tribulation Force members. If the plan in Iowa went through, more lives would be saved.
Not bad for a lowly Morale Monitor
, she thought.

The elevator dinged.

Henderson seemed deep in thought. Then he said, “If you sent this order, then Commander Blakely is phony. And if that's true, those four people he took from here are loose.” He slammed his hand on the desk. “How could I have been so stupid!”

“If that's true and you report it, you admit your incompetence,” Natalie said. “Those orders were placed from your computer. How will anyone know it wasn't you who made Blakely up?”

Two guards rushed into the room and saluted. Henderson set his jaw firmly. “This Morale Monitor is to be held in a private cell until we can interrogate her further.”

“What's the charge, sir?” one guard said as he snapped handcuffs on Natalie.

“Treason,” Henderson snapped. “And I suspect her to be a Judah-ite.”

As they led Natalie to the elevator, she heard Henderson on the phone with someone at the Iowa facility. She prayed that Vicki and the others were already out. Vicki and the group of believers were led through a side door into an outside holding area. She looked past several GC guards to the van in front of the building. Mark walked toward her and nodded. His eyes widened as the believers were herded through the door. They both knew the van would only hold fifteen people. Counting Colin and the others, there were nineteen. Mark went back to the van and said something into his radio.

The deputy commander and Colin walked outside to count heads. “I don't think you have enough room in your vehicle for these, Commander.”

“I'm not interested in their comfort during the ride,” Colin said sharply. “We'll manage. Now, if you'll open the gate, we'll be on our way.”

Vicki sidled up to the dark-haired girl. “The Morale Monitors at the van are believers too,” she whispered. “Tell the others to act like you're upset that I ratted you out.”

The girl whispered the message to the others, and it spread through the group.

The deputy commander nodded toward a guard by the chain-link fence, and the man unlocked the gate and slid it back.

Vicki pushed her way to the front, and one by one the kids walked to the van. “You said you'd take me separately!” Vicki yelled.

Conrad shoved Vicki hard. She lost her balance and went down in the gravel.

“Leave her!” the deputy commander said.

The others piled into the van, some grumbling about Vicki, others complaining about how packed the van was. A few had to sit on the floor to fit inside.

“Why don't you leave her here?” the deputy commander said to Colin. “We would be glad to take care of her for you.”

Colin picked Vicki up by one arm, and she screamed in mock pain. “You're not putting me in there with those people. They'll kill me!”

Colin shoved Vicki toward the van and she climbed inside. “She may be able to tell us more.”

A guard yelled that the deputy commander had a phone call. The man shook hands with Colin and went inside the building.

Colin closed the door and turned to Mark. “Get us to the main road as quickly as you can.”